Abu Dhabi: Ferrari's Giancarlo Fisichella and former F1 champion Jacques Villenueve will be the main attractions in the upcoming i1 Super Series which will get underway next year.

Fisichella, who is a former Force India driver and now represents Ferrari along with Villeneuve, Karun Chandhok and Vitantonio Luizzi are some of the names that will compete in the city-based races which will be held in Sepang (Jan 22nd), Bahrain (February 4th), Doha (February 11th), Greater Noida (February 26th) and Abu Dhabi (March 10th).

"We wanted to bring in a city based loyalty and that's why we have chosen big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Pune, Goa which will represent the teams. We know that as of now we can't have more than one race in India (at the Buddh International Circuit) as for driving SR 3 cars, we atleast need a Grade II track," Darshan M, head of Machdar MotorSports Pvt Ltd, the company organising the races, told mediapersons at the unveiling of the drivers.

He informed that the first season will be covered live by Ten Sports.

"Look IPL became a successful brand because of the content and that's why we have tried to bring in the best drivers who would compete once the F1 season gets over. Also young Indian drivers like Arman Ibrahim and co will get a chance to improve their performance under the guidance of F1 stars," Darshan, former CEO of Deccan Chargers said.

Asked how the i1 Superseries will sustain in times of economic crisis as A1 GP died a premature death, he reasoned, "That's precisely why we didn't get a big company like Ferrari to invest and then start bleeding as they will be unable to foot the bills. That's what happened when they joined A1 GP.

As far as I am concerned, we would be looking at a period of four years to get break even."

Iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar has been the brand ambassador and is expected to be present at one of the races after the tour of Australia gets over.

"Ideally, we wanted Sachin to buy a team but he wants to focus totally on cricket but he has said that he would extend his whole-hearted support in our endeavour which has boosted our morale," Darshan informed.

It was also known that former India captain Sourav Ganguly will intimate on whether he will be buying stakes in the Kolkata based team.

"I will get to know from Sourav by the next weekend. Probably, he will be forming a consortium with prominent city based businessmen if he comes on board at all."

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve and several former Formula 1 stars will compete in the inaugural i1 Supercar Series which will run early next year.

The series is organised by Machdar Motorsports and is made of 10 races with 9 teams representing different Indian cities. The teams will race the Radical Sportscars' SR3 roadster powered by a Suzuki 1500cc K8 motorcycle engine that produces 260 horsepower.

Each team will be represented by two drivers. At least one driver for each team must be driver of Indian origin. There will be a driver pool of 27 drivers with 18 drivers being chosen for each race weekend. The drivers for each race weekend will be chosen by the teams themselves. Teams will compete for a $2 million prize.

Villeneuve to drive some Nationwide races: The probable association between Jacques Villeneuve and Go Canada Racing, as reported by Le Journal de Montreal in August, has resurfaced. Villeneuve could run a dozen races (and maybe more) this year in the Nationwide Series driving a car owned by Toronto businessman Steve Meehan. Meehan declined to elaborate on the issue, while acknowledging that he had discussed with Villeneuve in recent weeks. Andrew Ranger will not drive for the team at Daytona, contrary to earlier reports. His debut will take place two weeks later at Las Vegas and possibly at Phoenix, the second week of the season. David Ragan, who has six years experience in Sprint Cup, wll take over the wheel of the Go Canada Ford at Daytona. In addition, the team has acquired a new Dodge Challenger that will be used at Phoenix.(Montreal Journal - translated using Google translate and edited for clarity)(1-31-2012)

Toronto, ON, Feb 3rd, 2012 - Effective February 15th, 2012 Go Canada Racing will become GC Motorsports International (GCMI). “The name change is a result of numerous developments in the offseason and more clearly represents our company, our partners, drivers and sponsors going forward.” said team owner Steve Meehan.

In 2012 the team will continue to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with drivers from both Canada and the United States. ”During the offseason we met with several drivers that we felt could help us build our program and while we are not quite ready to field a two car Nationwide effort we felt that expanding our format offers tremendous benefit to our team and marketing partners” said Meehan.

2012 will begin with David Ragan, last season’s winner of the Coke Zero 400 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, behind the wheel at Daytona. “We feel incredibly fortunate to have David’s knowledge and experience to help launch our 2012 program and hopefully guide the team into the future. “ Said Meehan. “I am really excited to be kicking off the 2012 Nationwide season for GCMI. I have known many of the team members for quite some time; it will be great to work with them again. This group has put together many winning efforts in the past and I plan on being part of their winning efforts in the future, hopefully starting with Daytona.” Says David Ragan.

The team will also launch an effort in the Nascar Canadian Tire Series for 2012. GC Motorsports International will team up with Dave Jacombs Racing to form GC Motorsports Canada. The team plans on fielding a two car effort anchored by two time series champion Andrew Ranger. Dave Jacombs explains “I am very excited about our organizations working together. I got to know Steve and the team last year and was really intrigued by what they were trying to put together, and over the last few months Steve and I came to the conclusion that working together could accelerate the growth of both programs. Long term I see us having dominant programs in multiple series on both sides of the border”.

Andrew Ranger will also return to the Nationwide team this year. Andrew will compete in a number of Nationwide Races Including the series only Canadian race, the Napa Auto Parts 200 in Montreal.” I am really looking forward to competing for my 3rd NASCAR Canadian Tire Series championship, it will be great working with Dave again, and I am really looking forward to get back behind the wheel in the Nationwide series. GCMI is developing a very strong strategy to grow the team and I think I am at the perfect point of my career to grow with them” states Andrew Ranger.

The team is extremely excited about the program going into 2012, and expects to make more announcements about drivers and sponsors in the coming weeks. “We feel we have a very formidable program, balancing experienced drivers with younger up and coming drivers. This multi-driver and multi-tier approach to our program will allow us to continue to build a very strong program that will enable an evolution to competing in the Sprint Cup Series” states Meehan…”In addition it will allow us to develop marketing partnerships all across North America”.